Inbee Park chases history at US Women's Open

Inbee Park, of South Korea, holds the trophy on the 18th green following the final round of the LPGA NW Arkansas Championship golf tournament on Sunday, June 23, 2013, in Rogers, Ark. Park won the tournament in a playoff against compatriot So Yeon Ryu. (AP Photo/Beth Hall)
— AP

Inbee Park, of South Korea, holds the trophy on the 18th green following the final round of the LPGA NW Arkansas Championship golf tournament on Sunday, June 23, 2013, in Rogers, Ark. Park won the tournament in a playoff against compatriot So Yeon Ryu. (AP Photo/Beth Hall)
/ AP

SOUTHAMPTON, N.Y. 
Inbee Park was 19 when she became the youngest player to win the U.S. Women's Open, not very experienced at golf or at life.

She had much to figure out after a victory that hinted at so much promise, and it took more than four years of sagging under pressure and tinkering with her swing before the South Korean earned another title.

The talented teenager from 2008 has now blossomed into a dominant veteran, the favorite heading into this week's U.S. Women's Open. Ranked No. 1, Park has won the first two majors of the year and her last two tournaments.

And she's at peace with her game and her world.

"The weeks that I've been having recently, I don't think I really need to think about golf outside the golf course," Park said. "I'm just very happy when I'm off the golf course."

At Sebonack Golf Club on Long Island, Park will seek to make history. When there have been at least four majors in a season, no player has ever won the first three of the year.

She'll take on a course hosting its first major. Sebonack, designed by Jack Nicklaus and Tom Doak, opened in 2006 with views of the Great Peconic Bay. Its big bunkers and undulating greens offer a links-style challenge. The fairways are broad, but just landing the ball in them may not do much good; placement could be crucial.

"It feels like the last few U.S. Opens, it's all been how straight you can drive the ball, and that is kind of who has won the tournament," said second-ranked Stacy Lewis. "So I like this year that you don't have to drive it perfect off the tees, but you've got to play smart into the greens."

Park has relied on her clutch putting to win five times already this season and seven of her last 23 starts dating to last year. She suspects her strong short game was the one silver lining to her longtime struggles with pushing her tee shots to the right. She estimates she was missing nine or 10 greens per round, so she spent a lot of time trying to save par.

"I was just hitting it everywhere. I had to get it up and down from everywhere," Park said.

Her drives straightened out, Park has gone from saving pars to making birdies.

Some of her struggles were bad habits, but some of it was undoubtedly pressure. She remembers how she would spend much of Thursday and Friday worrying about whether she'd make the cut. If she hit a bad shot, she'd immediately start fretting about carding a bogey. After winning the 2008 U.S. Women's Open, she went more than four years before her next victory at the Evian Masters last July.

"When you don't know how to handle the pressure, it's not a good feeling at all," she said. "Your heart's pumping; you think all the negative things."

Working with a mental coach, she's learned how to empty her head of those thoughts. Away from the course, it's easy to relax.